Hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay — ethics and the law

Hour 1

Guests:  Carol Rosenberg, Jonathan Marks and Scott Allen

Over 100 inmates at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center have been on a hunger strike since February in protest of their seemingly indefinite detention and the alleged mishandling of the Koran by U.S. guards. Two dozen detainees are being force-fed through nasal tubes that drip nourishment into their stomachs, a procedure that has been described as painful.  Last week, President Obama renewed his vow to close the prison, a promise he originally made in his first days in office.  This hour we’ll get an update on the hunger strike from Miami Herald reporter CAROL ROSENBERG.  Then, we’ll discuss the medical ethics raised by force-feeding and the legal rights of prisoners to refuse food and drink. Our guests are JONATHAN MARKS, an Associate Professor of Bioethics, Humanities, Law and Philosophy at Penn State University, and SCOTT ALLEN, Clinical Associate Professor in the School of Medicine at University of California, Riverside and the co-founder of the Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights at Brown University.

Photo: Yemeni protestors dressed in prison uniforms, hold posters of men detained in Guantanamo Bay prison during a demonstration in front of the U.S. embassy demanding their release, in Sanaa, Yemen, Tuesday, April 16, 2013. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)